Fishing For A Bonanza With The Golden Crab

September 6, 1985|By Chris Sherman, Sentinel Restaurant Critic

A new species of crab is slowly making its way from the coldest depths of the Gulf of Mexico to the tables of a crab-hungry America.

The deep-water crab is not something new under the sea, but it had no commercial use until deep-sea fishing companies -- spurred by the dwindling numbers of large crabs being caught in U.S. waters -- and scientists united a few years ago in an effort to meet the expanding demand for seafood.

''We've known it was there for some time,'' said Steven Otwell, University of Florida seafood specialist. ''But it wasn't until the early 1980s that the fishermen who knew about it came to us for help'' in preserving and marketing the crab after it has been caught, he said.

Now known as golden crabs, the deepwater crustaceans average 2 1/2 to 3 pounds apiece, smaller than the prized Alaskan king crabs but bearing big claws much like Florida's beloved stone crabs.

The mild, sweet taste of golden crabs has been compared favorably to both of those other crabs, but unlike other members of the crab family, the shells of golden crabs are a pale, buff color and do not turn red when cooked.

Catching golden crabs is more complicated than ordinary crabbing. While most Florida crabs are found in relatively shallow water close to shore, golden crabs live so deep that fishing boats must put out to sea 100 miles and string their traps 2,000 feet deep in stiff currents to catch them. And because the ships bring their catches up so far from shore, the crabs must be cooked and frozen quickly.

Golden crabmeat varies in price at retail from $7 to $13 a pound depending on its form -- packaged in whole claws, leg clusters and fingers and various grades of picked meat. But it is less expensive than Alaskan king crabs or the priciest backfin meat of common blue crabs.

Because the crabs are new to consumers, fishing companies such as Golden Gulf Seafood of Mobile, Ala., which has been catching the crabs since 1982, have been trying to teach customers how to prepare and serve them.

The companies began by selling the crabs to big hotels and seafood restaurants. The crabs are more common on the West Coast but have been tried in Central Florida hotels and soon will be sold in retail markets.

Whether the crabs will please consumers and chefs still is uncertain.

''It's excellent meat,'' said Dave Thomas, who serves golden crab claws at The Crab Trap (5611 U.S. 19 North, Palmetto). He specializes in blue crabs, but has served golden crabs since they were first brought in a year and a half ago. He said the unusual color of the claws hasn't bothered his customers because his employees tell the diners about the crab's history and habitat.

Chef Keith Keogh of The Good Turn restaurant in Future World at Epcot Center, uses golden crabs in seafood cocktails and medleys and called its meat ''exceptional.''

Other chefs in Central Florida restaurants liked the taste of the crabs but found other drawbacks.

''I don't like the plate presentation,'' said Robert Straub of Straub's Fine Seafood (512 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs). He said the dirty color of the shell just wasn't as attractive as traditional crab-red: ''To me it's like green eggs. Once you eat the beast, it's pretty good.''

Chefs at a few big hotels found the appearance and taste satisfactory but discontinued the crabs because the quality and the quantity of the crabmeat was not consistent.

A big advantage of golden crabs is not their price or their taste, but simply that they are there. Because of natural factors -- such as weather, currents and predators -- and the growing demand for seafood from health- conscious shoppers, the catch of all the large crab species dropped in 1984 and the hardest hit was the diners' favorite, the Alaskan king crabs.

''Our stock of king crab is depleting rapidly,'' explained Del Repnow, one of three Alaskan fishermen who moved their boat from Kodiak to St. Petersburg this spring.

Not only is this new source of crabs relatively untapped, but because the crabs live deep where the water may be as cold as 38 degrees, they can be fished throughout the year.

And there will be Americans ready to eat more crabmeat all year, whatever its color.